Control apparatus



Dec. 13, 1966 R. J. GURDA 3,290,796 I CONTROL APPARATUS Filed Sept. 50,1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l lNVENTOR Richard J. Gurda Dec. 13,

Filed Sept. 30, 1964 Fig. 2.

R. J. GURDA CONTROL APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Richard J. GurdaUnited States Patent O 3,290,796 CONTRL APPARATUS Richard J. Gurda,Butler, Pa., assigner to Philip Chambers, Butler, Pa. Filed Sept. 30,1964, Ser. No. 400,421 16 Claims. (Cl. 35-23) This invention relates toapparatus which for want of a more descriptive term I call controlapparatus. It is adapted for a wide variety of applications in certainof which it might be termed an educational device or a reminding device.Broadly it involves the movement of an element along a guideway, whichmovement has relation to an objective to be attained and is dependentupon removal of blocking or detent means from the path of the element,which removal is related to the existence of certain conditionsprecedent, such, for example, as the performance of predetermined acts.

The general nature of the invention may perhaps be best understood if itis explained in connection with one of the many possible embodiments.The invention is well suited for embodiment in a device for reminding achild of chores to be performed each day. A coin may be inserted intothe upper end of the guideway which may be disposed at an angle to thehorizontal so that the force of gravity impels the coin to movedownwardly when it is not held or blocked against downward movement.When the coin reaches the lower end of the guideway it may be removedand taken by the child. Intermediate the upper and lower ends of theguideway the coin cannot be removed. Ranged along the guideway are aseries of detents each movable between an operative position blockingadvance of the coin or other element downwardly along the guideway andan inoperative position permitting such advance. Each detent isinitially disposed in operative po-` sition. When the child hasperformed or completed a chore he moves a detent to inoperativeposition. The detents are related to the chores in chronological orderfrom top to bottom of the apparatus. A legend may be associated witheach detent describing or related to one of the chores to be performed.Upon the successive performance of the chores and successive movement ofthe detents to inoperative position sequentially from top to bottom ofthe apparatus the coin will move downwardly inthe guideway step by step.Each time one of the detents is moved to inoperative position the coinmoves downwardly past that detent and is stopped by the next detent.When that detent is moved to inoperative position the coin movesdownwardly againl and is stopped by the next detent. When all thedetents have been moved to inoperative position the coin has reached thebottom ofthe guideway and can be removed.

Many other applications for the invention suggest themselves. Theinvention has value in any situation in which a control is desired orrequired to insure the performance of certain acts. For example, theinvention could be employed to great advantage in checking outprocedures to make sure that all of the required preliminary steps aretaken before starting an engine or performing a similar operat-ion.While I believe that normally it will be desired to dispose the -controlapparatus so that the longitudinal guideway is disposed at an angle tothe horizontal, utilizing the force of gravity to move the element alongthe guideway, the control apparatus may be disposed with the guidewayhorizont-al and the element may be advanced along the guideway by aforce other than the force of gravity, as, for example, by use of aspring or by magnetic force.

I provide control apparatus comprising a guideway for an element adaptedto advance therealong and a series of detents ranged along the guidewayeach movable between an operative position blocking advance of theelement along the guideway and an inoperative position permittingadvance of the element -along the guideway. The detents are preferablymovable transversely of the guideway between an operative positionintersecting the guideway blocking advance of the element along theguideway and -an inoperative position relatively remote from theguideway permitting vadvance of the element along the guideway. Asa-bove indicated the guideway may extend at an angle to the horizontalso that the element is acted on by the force of gravity tending toadvance it downwardly in the guideway.

The guideway along which the element is adapted to advance may be termeda longitudinal guideway. A series of transverse guideways may beprovided which are ranged along the longitudinal guideway and intersectthe longitudinal guideway, and a slide may be disposed in each of thetransverse guideways movable therein between an oper-ative positionblocking advance of the element along the longitudinal guideway and aninoperative position permitting advance of the element along thelongitudinal guideway. Certain of the transverse guideways may be on oneside of the longitudinal guideway and other of the transverse guidew-aysmay be on the opposite side of the longitudinal guideway. The transverseguideways may be arranged in pairs with the respective guideways of eachpair in opposed relationship on opposite sides of the longitudinalguideway, and a slide may be provided in each of the transverseguideways which is movable therein between an operative position inwhich a portion thereof blocks advance of the element along thelongitudinal guideway and an inoperative position permitting advance ofthe element along the longitudinal guideway, said portions of the slidesin opposed transverse guideways blocking advance of the element atdifferent locations along the longitudinal guideway. Said portion of oneof a pair of -opposed slides may be disposed relatively near one end ofthe longitudinal guideway and said portion of the other of said pair ofopposed slides may be disposed relatively near the opposite end of thelongitudinal guideway.

Means are preferably provided indicating the position of the elementalong the longitudinal guideway. Such guideway may have opening meanstherein through which a portion of the element may be seen whereby theposition of the element ailonlg the guideway may be known. Legends maybe provided which are exposed to view when the detents are in operativeposition and covered when the detents are in inoperative position.

Other details, objects and advantages of the invention will becomeappa-rent as the following ldescription of a present preferredembodiment thereof proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a present preferred embodimentof the invention in which FIGURE 1 is a plan view of control apparatusembodying my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the front member of the contro-l apparatusshown in FIGURE l but to reduced scale;

FIGURE 3 is a plan View of the back member of the control apparatusshownin FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the back member but showing cards withlegends applied thereto;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 butwith slides applied thereto;and

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary exploded view to greatly enlarged scaleshowin-g the relationship of the elements of my control apparatus.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the control apparatusas shown therein comprises generally sheet-like front and back members 2and 3 respectively. These members maybe made of any suitable materialsuch as wood, plastic, cardboard, metal, e-tc. In the form shown thefront member 2 may be simply stamped out of sheet material, being ofgenerally rectangular form -and of uniform thickness throughout andhaving at the top a notch 4 of semi-circular shape and having twovertical columns of rectangular openings, one such column being near theleft hand margin of the member 2 and 'the other such column being nearthe right hand margin of the member 2. The openings of the left handc-olumn are designated respectively by reference numerals 5, 6, 7, 8 and9 from top to bottom while the openings of the right hand corlumn areldesignated respectively by reference numerals 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14-from top -to bottom. A cent-ral column of smaller circular openings isalso provided for a purpose to be presently described. The centralopenings are designated respectively by reference numerals 15, 16, 17,18, 19, 2t), 21, 22, 23 and 24 from the top to bottom. It will be notedthat the central openings are grouped in pairs with each pair disposedbetween two of the side openings which are in transverse alignment. Forexample, the central openings 15 `and 16 are disposed between the sideopenings 5 and 10.

The back member 3 is of the same size and shape as the ,front member 2but rhas portions of its front face (i.e., its face adapted to bedisposed against the front member 2) disposed in three different planesfor a purpose to be presently described. The rear face of the backmember 3 may be planar.

The back member 3 is thickest at portions designated 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36. All of these portions are of generallytransversely elongated shape and are arranged to form transverseguideways designated respectively 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and46. In other words, the thickness of Ithe material of the back member 3is greater at the portions 25-36 `than it is at the portions 37-46whereby the later memtioned portions constitute transverse guideways.

The material of the back member 3 is thinnest at portions designated 47,48, 49, 50', 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 and 57. The portion 47 constitutesthe longitudinal guideway to which reference has been made above. It isopen at the top so that a coin or similar element may be introduced intoit and it is closed at the bottom. The portions 48-57 are depressedportions within the transverse guideways 3-7-46 Ifor receiving cards orsheets bearing legends or indicia. The portions 26-29 and 32-25 haveenlarged outer ends as clearly shown .in the drawings providingshoulders 61 to serve as stops for slides to be disposed in thetransverse Iguideways 37-46 as will presently be described. Each of theportions 48-57 has a semicircular shaped notch 60V at its outer edge tofacilitate insertion and removal of a card .bearing a legend.

FIGURE 4 shows cards 48a-57a disposed in the portions 48-57 of the backmember 3, the cards in this instance bearing legends defining chores tobe preformed by a child each day. These cards are simply by way ofexample and cards bearing any series of lle'gends related to acts to beper-formed, items to be checked, etc., may be substituted. My controldevice may be sold as a kit, the kit including any desired number ofsets of cards bearing legends from which appropriate selection may bemade.

. FIGURE 5 shows slides which for convenience lhave been numbered thesame as the transverse 'guideways in which they operate but with theletterfa appended. For example, the slide which operates inthetransverse guideway 37 is designated 37a, etc. Each slide has at itsinner end, `i.e., the end thereof nearer the longitudinal guideway 47, aprojection designated by lthe reference m1- meral applied to the slidebut with lche letter b instead of the letter a appended. For example,the projection of the slide 37a is designated 37b, etc. It will be notedthat the height of each projection, yi.e., the `dimension thereofparallel to the length of the vlongitudinal yguideway 47, is about halfor slightly less than half the height of the body of the slide and thatall of the projections 37b-41h project from what may be termed the upperportions of their slides while all lof the projections 42h- 46b project`from what maybe termed the lower portions of their slides.

Each of the slides is adapted to be moved between an outward inoperativeposition in which its outward movement is limited by the shoulder 61provided by the enlargement of one or two of the portions 26-29 and32-35 as shown with respect to the three top slides on each side inFIGURE 5 and in which its projection, such as 37b, is completely removedfrom the longitudinal guideway 47 and an inward position as shown withrespect to the two bottom slides on each side in FIGURE 5 in which itsprojection intersects the longitudinal guideway 47 and hence serves asstop means to stop a coin or similar element from moving downwardlythrough the longitudinal guideway. The stopping or blocking function is,of course, performed by the upper edge of the slide projection in eachcase. The upper edge of each of the projections 37b-41h is higher ornearer the upper end of the longitudinal guideway 47 than the upper edgeof the opposed one of the projections 42h-46h. Thus when the projection37b intersects the longitudinal guideway 47 it stops downward movementof the coin virtually at the top of the longitudinal guideway, but whenthe slide 37a is withdrawn to inoperative position and the slide 42a isin operative position the upper edge of the projection 42h will stop thecoin farther down in the longitudinal guideway. Thus, even though theslides 37a and 42a are directly opposite each other their projectionsare staggered as shown and are effective to stop downward movement ofthe coin at different zones of the longitudinal guideway 47. Thisapplies to the slides all the way down the longitudinal guideway. Alsowhen opposed slides are in operative position they nest, i.e., theprojection of the left hand slide is disposed above the projection ofthe right hand slide in the direction toward the top of the longitudinalguideway 47.

Each slide is provided with an outward projection or rib as indicated at37C on the slide 37a adapted to be engaged by the fingers of the personoperating the apparatus to facilitate movement of the slide. Also, theprojections or ribs 37C, etc., serve as limit stops when engaging theinner ends of the openings 5-14 in the front member 2 to limit inwardmovement of the slides.

When the front member 2 is applied to the back member. 3 the planarinner face of the front member 2 lies flush against the portions 25-36of the back member 3 and is desirably adhesively attached thereto,confining the slides 37a-46a between the front and back members whilepermitting them to slide in the transverse guideways 37-46. The frontmember 2 and the back member 3 together constitute a mounting device.Each slide when in its inward or operative position uncovers thecorresponding legend and when retracted or withdrawn outwardly coversthe legend. The thickness of the cards 48u-57a is substantially equal todepth of the portions 48-57 below the guideways 37-46.

At the beginning of the day all of the slides are in operative position.The apparatus is hung on a wall or otherwise arranged so that thelongitudinal guideway 4T is disposed at an angle to the horizontal. Acoin 58 is. dropped into the upper end of the longitudinal guideway 47,the notch 4 facilitating insertion of the coin. It is stopped or blockedin its downward movement by engagement with the projection 37b. When thechild has brushed his teeth he moves the slide 37a to inoperativeposition as shown in FIGURE 5 covering the legend Brush My Teeth on card48a and also retracting the extension 37b out of the longitudinalguideway 47 and permitting the coin 58 to move downwardly by gravity inthe guideway 47 until it strikes the projection 4211. After the childhas done his exercises he moves the slide 42a from operative toinoperative position as shown in FIGURE 5 covering the legend Do MyExercises on card 53a and permitting the coin 58 to move downwardly inthe longitudinal guideway until it is stopped by the projection 3811. Asthe child performs the various chores related to the legends he retractsthe corresponding slides and when all of the slides have been retractedthe coin reaches the bottom of the longitudinal guideway 47 where it maybe removed through an opening 59 in the front member 2, which opening islarger than the coin to permit the coin to be withdrawn therethrough. Ineach position of the coin in the guideway 47 it may be seen through oneof the openings -24, which openings are smaller than the coin, but itcannot be removed until its reaches the opening 59.

It will be appreciated that my control apparatus has almost unlimitedapplication and is of value in any situation in which it is important toinsure the performance of a series of operations. For example, theelement adapted to move through the longitudinal guideway may be a keysuch as a key to an aircraft engine or a key to a lock when it isimportant that the engine be not started or the lock unlocked until aseries of operations related to the legends on the cards selected foruse in the apparatus have been performed.

While I have shown and described a present preferred embodiment of theinvention it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is notlimited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scopeof the following claims.

I claim:

1. Control apparatus comprising a generally planar guideway for anelement adapted to advance therealong, a series of detents ranged alongthe guideway each movable between an operative position blocking advanceof the element along the guideway and an inoperative position permittingadvance of the element along the guideway and guide means extendingsubstantially parallel to the general plane of the guideway guiding thedetents in movement between said positions.

2. Control apparatus comprising a mounting device having a generallyplanar guideway for an element adapted to advance therealong and aseries of detents ranged along the guideway each movable transversely ofthe .guideway between an operative position intersecting the guidewayblocking advance of the element along the guideway and an inoperativeposition relatively remote from the guideway permitting advance of theelement along the guideway, the mounting device having guide meansextending substantially parallel to the general plane of the guidewayguiding the detents in movement Ibetween said positions.

3. Control apparatus comprising a generally planar mounting devicehaving a guideway extending at an angle to the horizontal down which anelement acted on by the force of gravity is adapted to advance and aseries of detents ranged along the guideway each movable between anoperative position blocking advance of the element down the guideway andan inoperative position permitting advance of the element down theguideway, the mounting device having guide means .guiding the detents inthe general plane of the mounting device in movement between saidpositions.

4. Control apparatus comprising a generally planar mounting devicehaving a guideway extending at an angle to the horizontal down which anelement acted on by the force of gravity is adapted to advance and aseries of detents ranged along the guideway each movable transversely ofthe guideway between an operative position intersecting the guidewayblocking advance of the element down the guideway and an inoperativeposition relatively remote from the guideway permitting advance of theelement down the guideway, the mounting device having guide means.guiding the detents in the general plane of the mounting device inmovement between said positions.

5. Control apparatus comprising a mounting device having a longitudinalguideway 4for an element adapted to advance therealong, a series ofcontinuous transverse guideways ranged along the longitudinal guidewayand intersecting the longitudinal guideway, and a slide in each of thetransverse .guideways movable therein between an operative position onthe mounting device blocking advance of the element along thelongitudinal guideway and an inoperative position on the mounting devicepermitting advance of the element along the longitudinal guideway.

6. Control apparatus comprising a mounting device having a longitudinalguideway for an element adapted to advance therealong, a series oftransverse guideways ranged along the longitudinal guideway andintersecting the longitudinal guideway, certain of the transverseguideways being on one side of the longitudinal guideway and other ofthe transverse g-uideways Ibeing on the optposite side of the-longitudinal guideway, and a slide in each of the transverse guidewaysmovable therein between an operative position on the mounting deviceblocking advance of the element along the longitudinal guideway and aninoperative position on the mounting device permitting advance of theelement along the longitudinal guideway.

7, Control apparatus comprising a mounting device having a longitudinalguideway for an element adapted to advance therealong, a series oftransverse guideways ranged along the longitudinal guideway andintersecting the longitudinal guideway, the transverse guideways beingarranged in pairs with the respective guideways of each pair in opposedrelationship on opposite sides of the longitudinal guideway, and a slidein each of the transverse guideways movable therein between an operativeposition on the mounting device in which a portion thereof blocksadvance of the element along the longitudinal guideway and aninoperative position on the mounting device permitting advance of theelement along the longitudinal guideway, said portions of slides inopposed transverse guideways blocking advance of the element atdifferent locations along the longitudinal guideway.

8. Control apparatus comprising a mounting device having a longitudinalguideway for an element adapted to advance therealong, a series oftransverse guideways ranged along the longitudinal guideway andintersecting the longitudinal guideway, the transverse .guideways beingarranged in pairs with the respective guideways of each pair in opposedrelationship on opposite sides of the longitudinal guideway, and a slidein each of the transverse guideways movable therein between an operativeposition on the mounting device in which a portion thereof blocksadvance of the element along the longitudinal guideway and aninoperative position on the mounting device permitting advance of theelement along the longitudinal guideway, said portion of one of a pairof opposed slides being disposed relatively near one end of thelongitudinal guideway and said portion of the other of said pair ofopposed slides being disposed relatively near the opposite end of thelongitudinal guideway.

9. Control apparatus comprising a guideway for an element adapted toadvance therealong, a series of detents ranged along the guideway eachmovable between an operative position blocking advance of the elementalong the guideway and an inoperative position permitting advance of theelement along the guideway and legends exposed to view when the detentsare in operative position and covered by the detents when the detentsare in inoperative position.

10. Control apparatus comprising a longitudinal ,guideway for an elementadapted to advance therealong, a series of transverse guideways rangedalong the longitudinal guideway and intersecting the longitudinalguideway, a. slide in each of the transverse guideways movable thereinbetween an operative position blocking advance of the element along thelongitudinal guideway and an inoperative position permitting advance ofthe element along the longitudinal guideway and a legend covered by aslide when the slide is in inoperative position and exposed to view whenthe slide is in operative position.

11. Control apparatus comprising a mounting device comprising front andback members disposed in face-toface relation formed to providetherebetween a longitudinal guideway for an element adapted to advancetherealong and a series of continuous transverse guideways ranged alongthe longitudinal guideway and intersecting the longitudinal guideway anda slide in each of the transverse guideways movable therein between anoperative position on the mounting device blocking advance of theelement along the longitudinal guideway and an inoperative position onthe mounting device permitting advance of the element along thelongitudinal guideway.

12. Control apparatus comprising front and back members disposed inace-to-face relation formed to provide therebetween a longitudinalguideway for an e-lement adapted to advance therealong and a series oftransverse guideways ranged along the longitudinal guideway andintersecting the longitudinal guideway and a slide in each of thetransverse guideways movable therein between an operative positionblocking advance of the element along the longitudinal .guideway and aninoperative position permitting advance of the element along thelongitudinal guideway, the front member having openings therethroughother than the guideways through which the slides may be manually movedbetween operative and inoperative positions.

13, Control apparatus comprising front and back members disposed inface-to-face relation formed to provide therebetween a longitudinal.guideway for an element adapted to advance therealong and a series oftransverse guideways ranged along the longitudinal guideway andintersecting the longitudinal guideway and a slide in each of thetransverse guideways movable therein between an operative positionblocking advance of the element along the longitudinal guideway and aninoperative position permitting advance of the element along thelongitudinal guideway, the front member having openings therethroughother than the guideways through which the slides may -be manually movedbetween operative and inoperative positions and also having openingmeans therethrough through which a portion of the element'rnay be seenwhereby the position of the element along the guideway may be known.

14. Control apparatus comprising front and back members disposed inface-to-face relation formed to provide therebetween a longitudinalguideway for an element adapted to advance therealong and a series oftransverse guideways ranged along the longitudinal guideway andintersecting the longitudinal guideway, a slide in each of thetransverse guideways movable therein between an operative positionblocking advance of the element along the longitudinal guideway and aninoperative position lift) 8 permitting advance of the element along thelongitudinal gu1deway, the front member having openings therethroughthrough which the slides may be manually moved v between operative andinoperative positions and also hav- :ing opening means therethroughthrough which a por- 'tion of the element may be seen whereby theposition of 'the element along the guideway may be known, and legendsexposed to view through the rst mentioned openings through the frontmember when the slides are in operative position and covered by theslides when the :slides are in inoperative position.

l5. Control apparatus comprising front and back members disposed inface-to-face relation at an angle to the horizontal formed to providetherebetween a longitudinal guideway inclined to the horizontal shapedto receive and guide a coin or similar element adapted to movedownwardly in the longitudinal guideway under the force of gravity, thefront and back members also being formed to provide a series oftransverse guideways disposed between the front and back members rangedalong the longitudinal guideway and intersecting the longitudinalguideway, and a slide in each of the transverse guideways .rnovabletherein between an operative position blocking downward movement ofthecoin or similar element in Ithe longitudinal guideway and an inoperativeposition permitting such downward movement.

16. Control apparatus comprising front and back rnembers disposed inface-to-face relation at an angle to the iho'rizontal formed to providetherebetween a longitudinal guideway inclined to the horizontal shapedto receive and guide a coin or similar element adapted to movedownwardly in the longitudinal guideway under the force of .gravity andto confine the coin or similar element so that 1t cannot be removed fromthe longitudinal guideway until it reaches the bottom thereof, the frontand back members also being formed to provide a series of transverseguideways disposed between the front and back members ranged along thelongitudinal guideway and intersecting the longitudinal guideway, and aslide in each of the transverse guideways movable therein between anoperative position blocking downward movement of the coin or similarelement in the longitudinal guideway and an inoperative positionpermitting such downward movement, the front member having at the bottomof the longitudinal guideway an opening therethrough through which thecoin or similar element may be removed when it reaches the ybottom ofthe longitudinal guideway.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,414,614 1/ 1947Shurick 35-23 2,863,603 12/1958 Doupnik.

2,883,765 4/1959' Blaine 35--23 3,035,355 5/1962 Holmes 35-23 3,127,6864/1964 Goldfarb 35-31 EUGENE R. CAPOZO, Primary Examiner.

W. GRIEB, Assistant Examiner'.

1. CONTROL APPARATUS COMPRISING A GENERALLY PLANAR GUIDEWAY FOR ANELEMENT ADAPTED TO ADVANCE THEREALONG, A SERIES OF DETENTS RANGED ALONGTHE GUIDEWAY EACH MOVABLE BETWEEN AN OPERATIVE POSITION BLOCKING ADVANCEOF THE ELEMENT ALONG THE GUIDEWAY AND AN INOPERATIVE POSITION PERMITTINGADVANCE OF THE ELEMENT ALONG THE GUIDEWAY AND GUIDE MEANS EXTENDINGSUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE GENERAL PLANE OF THE GUIDEWAY GUIDING THEDETENTS IN MOVEMENT BETWEEN SAID POSITIONS.